• Victim’s uncles blame Amir and his former wife for their niece’s murder. 
• Suspect asked money from victim, police sources say. 
• Victim did not inform parents of her marriage, say sources. 

Police on Saturday took into custody noted journalist Ayaz Amir after obtaining arrest warrants for him and his former wife in a case pertaining to the murder of their daughter-in-law, who is a Canadian national.  

Amir’s son Shahnawaz allegedly killed his wife Sara Inam at home after a row over a “family issue” on Friday.

Sara’s uncles — Colonel (retd) Ikram and Zia-ur-Rahim — have blamed Amir and his former wife for their niece’s murder.

According to police sources, the suspect had not told Sara about his other two marriages and used to demand money from her as he is a drug addict. The sources also said that Shahnawaz fraudulently registered in his name a car Sara recently bought.

His wife demanded her money and car back after she got to know about Shahnawaz’s move which escalated into a fight during which the suspect murdered his wife, the sources said. 

The police sources said that the victim had not told her parents about her marriage to Shahnawaz. Sara came to Pakistan three months ago and got married to the suspect in Chakwal after getting in touch with him through social media. 

Their marriage is not registered in Pakistan, said the sources, adding that Sara agreed to marry Shahnawaz because he was the son of a senior journalist. 

The case

Police registered a first information report (FIR) on the complaint of Station House Officer (SHO) Nawazish Ali Khan on Friday under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

The FIR states that the suspect’s mother, Samina Shah, called the police on Friday (September 23) to inform them that her son, Shahnawaz, had killed his wife with a dumbbell.

According to the FIR, Shah told the police that her son was in the house and had hidden the body of his wife. Following this, the police raided the house.

In the complaint, the police said that Shahnawaz had locked himself inside his room and when the personnel broke inside, there were blood spots on his hands and clothes.

Once the police got hold of Shahnawaz, he, according to the FIR, confessed to hitting his wife repeatedly with a dumbbell during an argument and then later hiding the Canadian national’s body in the bathtub.

The “murder weapon”, the FIR quoted Shahnawaz as saying, was hidden under his bed. Police, after examining the dumbbell, reportedly found blood and hair on it. They later sent it for forensics.

The victim’s body has been sent to the Polyclinic Hospital for postmortem, the FIR added.